title: Transfusion-transmitted HTLV-I/II infection in patients undergoing open-heart surgery.
abstract: Sera from 5,244 blood donations collected between 1979 and 1987 were screened for antibody to HTLV-I with an enzyme immunoassay (EIA) whose result was confirmed with a two-step procedure including Western blot (WB) and radio immunoprecipitation. Of 20 repeatedly reactive samples, two were confirmed positive for HTLV-I infection. These blood units were transfused to patients undergoing cardiac surgery. Both recipients of the confirmed anti-HTLV-I positive units were infected with HTLV-I as evidenced by antibody seroconversion. In contrast, six recipients of EIA positive, WB indeterminate blood and nine recipients WB negative blood were not infected with HTLV-I. These results confirm a low prevalence of HTLV-I infection in US blood donors, the capacity of infected units to transmit the virus to recipients, and the importance of an appropriate confirmatory assay.
authors.affiliation: Department of Transfusion Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892.
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Shih
authors.forename: H H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Falchek
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Canavaggio
authors.forename: B W
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Jett
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Allain
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Alter
mesh_terms: D001782:Blood Donors; D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures; D015481:HTLV-I Antibodies / Q000032:analysis; D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000635:transmission*; D015482:HTLV-II Antibodies / Q000032:analysis; D015491:HTLV-II Infections / Q000635:transmission*; D006801:Humans; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D015481:HTLV-I Antibodies; D015482:HTLV-II Antibodies